Replicas of Michelangelo's David

Replicas of Michelangelo's David have been made numerous times, in plaster, imitation marble, fibreglass, snow, and other materials.[1] There are many full-sized replicas of the statue around the world, perhaps the most prominent being the one in the original's position in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy, placed there in 1910. The original sculpture was moved indoors in 1873 to the Accademia Gallery in Florence, where it attracts many visitors. Others were made for study at art academies in the late nineteenth century and later, while the statue has also been replicated for various commercial reasons or as artistic statements in their own right. Smaller replicas are often considered kitsch.[2]

A bronze cast stands in front of the Kongelige Afstøbningssamling, the Danish Royal Cast Collection at the Langelinie Promenade in Copenhagen.

In 2007, Märklin produced a Z scale (1:220) bronze replica of the statue, which stood approximately 1.6 inches (41 mm) tall. The statue accompanied the "museumswagen" for that year, a collector car offered in the Märklin museum in Göppingen to celebrate the Germanfoundry Strassacker.

A copy of David was presented to the city of Buffalo, New York, and the Buffalo Historical Society by Andrew Langdon, a businessman and scholar. Langdon had seen the statue on exhibit at the Paris Exposition of 1900; negotiating with the Neapolitan firm of bronze founders who had cast it (Angelus and Sons), he bought it and exacted an agreement that they would not send another to the United States. The statue now stands in Delaware Park.[5]

There is a full-scale replica of David on the campus of California State University, Fullerton that lies broken in pieces on the ground. It was brought to campus by a professor in 1988 after it was damaged in the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake. Visitors often touch the remains of the sculpture for tactile study or, in a new student tradition, the dislocated but upturned buttocks for general good luck.[6]

Reduced-scale copies of David in Los Angeles, decorated for Christmas 2005

Also in southern California, a resident of the Hancock Park neighbourhood in Los Angeles has decorated his house and grounds with twenty-three reduced scale replicas of the statue, all retaining different facial expressions.[8]

In 2004, as part of Stanford University's "Digital Michelangelo Project", a highly accurate 15 inch replica was made by Gentle Giant Studios mechanically reproducing their digital scans of the original. Ignoring the advice of an Italian sculptor to soften the features of a reduced-scale copy "otherwise, it appears precious and cartoony", the results were felt to be satisfactory, if "angular when viewed in person, especially around his face."[11]

On February 26, 2013 a Lawrence, Kansas man with no formal training in sculpture molded a giant block of snow into a temporary inspiration of Michelangelo's David, at roughly 7/17 scale. The four-hour endeavor was a response of one-upsmanship to his sister's snow version of the Star Wars character Yoda, dubbed Snowda, a picture of which was uploaded to George Takei's Facebook Page and received tens of thousands of "likes."

In 1995, a replica of David was offered as a gift by the municipality of Florence to the municipality of Jerusalem to mark the 3,000th anniversary of David's conquest of the city. The proposed gift evoked a storm in Jerusalem, where religious factions urged the gift be declined, because the naked figure was considered pornographic. Finally, a compromise was reached and another, fully clad replica of a different statue was donated instead.

1.
Palazzo Vecchio
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The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria with its copy of Michelangelos David statue as well as the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi, the building acquired its current name when the Medici dukes residence was moved across the Arno to the Palazzo Pitti. The cubical building is made of rusticated stonework, with two rows of two-lighted Gothic windows, each with a trefoil arch. In the 15th century, Michelozzo Michelozzi added decorative bas-reliefs of the cross, the building is crowned with projecting crenellated battlement, supported by small arches and corbels. Under the arches are a series of nine painted coats of arms of the Florentine republic. Some of these arches can be used as embrasures for dropping heated liquids or rocks on invaders, the solid, massive building is enhanced by the simple tower with its clock. This tower contains two cells, that, at different times, imprisoned Cosimo de Medici and Girolamo Savonarola. The tower is named after its designer Torre dArnolfo, Duke Cosimo I de Medici moved his official seat from the Medici palazzo in via Larga to the Palazzo della Signoria in May 1540, signalling the security of Medici power in Florence. Cosimo commissioned Giorgio Vasari to build a walkway, the Vasari corridor, from the Palazzo Vecchio, through the Uffizi. Cosimo I also moved the seat of government to the Uffizi, the palace gained new importance as the seat of united Italys provisional government from 1865–71, at a moment when Florence had become the temporary capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The tower currently has three bells, the oldest was cast in the 13th century, above the front entrance door, there is a notable ornamental marble frontispiece, dating from 1528. In the middle, flanked by two gilded lions, is the Monogram of Christ, surrounded by a glory, above the text, Rex Regum et Dominus Dominantium (translation, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This text dates from 1851 and does not replace an earlier text by Savonarola as mentioned in guidebooks, between 1529 and 1851 they were concealed behind a large shield with the grand-ducal coat of arms. Michelangelos David also stood at the entrance from its completion in 1504 to 1873, a replica erected in 1910 now stands in its place, flanked by Baccio Bandinellis Hercules and Cacus. The first courtyard was designed in 1453 by Michelozzo, in the lunettes, high around the courtyard, are crests of the church and city guilds. In the center, the fountain is by Battista del Tadda. The Putto with Dolphin on top of the basin is a copy of the original by Andrea del Verrocchio and this small statue was originally placed in the garden of the Villa Medici at Careggi. The water, flowing through the nose of the dolphin, is brought here by pipes from the Boboli Gardens, in the niche, in front of the fountain, stands Samson and Philistine by Pierino da Vinci

2.
Florence
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Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, from 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy. The Historic Centre of Florence attracts 13 million tourists each year and it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture, the city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florences artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in 2008, the city had the 17th highest average income in Italy. Florence originated as a Roman city, and later, after a period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was politically, economically, and culturally one of the most important cities in Europe, the language spoken in the city during the 14th century was, and still is, accepted as the Italian language. Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money—in the form of the gold florin—financed the development of all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War and they similarly financed the papacy, including the construction of their provisional capital of Avignon and, after their return to Rome, the reconstruction and Renaissance embellishment of Rome. Florence was home to the Medici, one of European historys most important noble families, Lorenzo de Medici was considered a political and cultural mastermind of Italy in the late 15th century. Two members of the family were popes in the early 16th century, Leo X, catherine de Medici married king Henry II of France and, after his death in 1559, reigned as regent in France. Marie de Medici married Henry IV of France and gave birth to the future king Louis XIII, the Medici reigned as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, starting with Cosimo I de Medici in 1569 and ending with the death of Gian Gastone de Medici in 1737. The Etruscans initially formed in 200 BC the small settlement of Fiesole and it was built in the style of an army camp with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. Situated along the Via Cassia, the route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century, Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. The population began to again and commerce prospered

3.
Michelangelo
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Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Considered to be the greatest living artist during his lifetime, he has since described as one of the greatest artists of all time. A number of Michelangelos works of painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence and he sculpted two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, before the age of thirty. As an architect, Michelangelo pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library, at the age of 74, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peters Basilica. Michelangelo transformed the plan so that the end was finished to his design, as was the dome, with some modification. Michelangelo was unique as the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive, in his lifetime he was often called Il Divino. One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, the attempts by subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelos impassioned and highly personal style resulted in Mannerism, the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance. Michelangelo was born on 6 March 1475 in Caprese near Arezzo, at the time of Michelangelos birth, his father was the Judicial administrator of the small town of Caprese and local administrator of Chiusi. Michelangelos mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena, the Buonarrotis claimed to descend from the Countess Mathilde of Canossa, this claim remains unproven, but Michelangelo himself believed it. Several months after Michelangelos birth, the returned to Florence. There Michelangelo gained his love for marble, as Giorgio Vasari quotes him, If there is good in me. Along with the milk of my nurse I received the knack of handling chisel and hammer, as a young boy, Michelangelo was sent to Florence to study grammar under the Humanist Francesco da Urbino. The young artist, however, showed no interest in his schooling, preferring to copy paintings from churches, the city of Florence was at that time the greatest centre of the arts and learning in Italy. Art was sponsored by the Signoria, by the merchant guilds and by patrons such as the Medici. The Renaissance, a renewal of Classical scholarship and the arts, had its first flowering in Florence, the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti had laboured for fifty years to create the bronze doors of the Baptistry, which Michelangelo was to describe as The Gates of Paradise. The exterior niches of the Church of Orsanmichele contained a gallery of works by the most acclaimed sculptors of Florence – Donatello, Ghiberti, Andrea del Verrocchio, and Nanni di Banco. The interiors of the churches were covered with frescos, begun by Giotto. During Michelangelos childhood, a team of painters had been called from Florence to the Vatican, among them was Domenico Ghirlandaio, a master in fresco painting, perspective, figure drawing, and portraiture who had the largest workshop in Florence at that period

4.
David (Michelangelo)
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David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created between 1501 and 1504 by Michelangelo. It is a 5. 17-metre marble statue of a male nude. The statue represents the Biblical hero David, a subject in the art of Florence. The eyes of David, with a glare, were turned towards Rome. The statue was moved to the Galleria dellAccademia, Florence, in 1873, the history of the statue begins before Michelangelos work on it from 1501 to 1504. In 1410 Donatello made the first of the statues, a figure of Joshua in terracotta, a figure of Hercules, also in terracotta, was commissioned from the Florentine sculptor Agostino di Duccio in 1463 and was made perhaps under Donatellos direction. Eager to continue their project, in 1464, the Operai contracted Agostino to create a sculpture of David, a block of marble was provided from a quarry in Carrara, a town in the Apuan Alps in northern Tuscany. Agostino only got as far as beginning to shape the legs, feet and his association with the project ceased, for reasons unknown, with the death of Donatello in 1466, and ten years later Antonio Rossellino was commissioned to take up where Agostino had left off. Rossellinos contract was terminated soon thereafter, and the block of marble remained neglected for 25 years, all the while exposed to the elements in the yard of the cathedral workshop. This was of concern to the Opera authorities, as such a large piece of marble not only was costly but represented a large amount of labour. In 1500, an inventory of the cathedral workshops described the piece as a figure of marble called David, badly blocked out. A year later, documents showed that the Operai were determined to find an artist who could take this piece of marble. They ordered the block of stone, which they called The Giant, raised on its feet so that an experienced in this kind of work might examine it. Though Leonardo da Vinci and others were consulted, it was Michelangelo, only 26 years old, on 16 August 1501, Michelangelo was given the official contract to undertake this challenging new task. He began carving the statue early in the morning on 13 September and he would work on the massive statue for more than two years. They convened a committee of 30 Florentine citizens that comprised many artists, including Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli, while nine different locations for the statue were discussed, the majority of members seem to have been closely split between two sites. Another opinion, supported by Botticelli, was that the sculpture should be situated on or near the cathedral. In June 1504, David was installed next to the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio, replacing Donatellos bronze sculpture of Judith and Holofernes and it took four days to move the statue the half mile from Michelangelos workshop into the Piazza della Signoria

5.
Plaster
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Plaster is a building material used for the protective and/or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English plaster usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, another imprecise term used for the material is stucco, which is also often used for plasterwork that is worked in some way to produce relief decoration, rather than flat surfaces. The most common types of plaster mainly contain either gypsum, lime, or cement, the plaster is manufactured as a dry powder and is mixed with water to form a stiff but workable paste immediately before it is applied to the surface. The reaction with water liberates heat through crystallization and the hydrated plaster then hardens, plaster can be relatively easily worked with metal tools or even sandpaper, and can be moulded, either on site or to make pre-formed sections in advance, which are put in place with adhesive. Plaster is not a material, it is suitable for finishing, rather than load-bearing. Forms of plaster have several other uses, in medicine plaster orthopedic casts are still often used for supporting set broken bones. In dentistry plaster is used to make dental models, various types of models and moulds are made with plaster. In art, lime plaster is the matrix for fresco painting. Gypsum plaster, or plaster of Paris, is produced by heating gypsum to about 300 °F, when the dry plaster powder is mixed with water, it re-forms into gypsum. The setting of unmodified plaster starts about 10 minutes after mixing and is complete in about 45 minutes, if plaster or gypsum is heated above 266 °F, hemihydrate is formed, which will also re-form as gypsum if mixed with water. On heating to 180 °C, the nearly water-free form, called γ-anhydrite is produced, γ-Anhydrite reacts slowly with water to return to the dihydrate state, a property exploited in some commercial desiccants. On heating above 250 °C, the anhydrous form called β-anhydrite or dead burned plaster is formed. A large gypsum deposit at Montmartre in Paris led calcined gypsum to be known as plaster of Paris. Plasterers often use gypsum to simulate the appearance of surfaces of wood, stone, or metal, on movie, nowadays, theatrical plasterers often use expanded polystyrene, although the job title remains unchanged. Plaster of Paris can be used to impregnate gauze bandages to make a material called plaster bandages. It is used similarly to clay, as it is shaped when wet, yet sets into a resilient. This is the material that was used to make classic plaster orthopedic casts to protect limbs with broken bones, set Modroc is an early example of a composite material. The hydration of plaster of Paris relies on the reaction of water with the dehydrated or partially hydrated calcium sulfate present in the plaster, lime plaster is a mixture of calcium hydroxide and sand

6.
Marble
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Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Geologists use the marble to refer to metamorphosed limestone, however. Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material and this stem is also the basis for the English word marmoreal, meaning marble-like. In Hungarian it is called márvány, Marble is a rock resulting from metamorphism of sedimentary carbonate rocks, most commonly limestone or dolomite rock. Metamorphism causes variable recrystallization of the carbonate mineral grains. The resulting marble rock is composed of an interlocking mosaic of carbonate crystals. Primary sedimentary textures and structures of the carbonate rock have typically been modified or destroyed. Pure white marble is the result of metamorphism of a very pure limestone or dolomite protolith, green coloration is often due to serpentine resulting from originally magnesium-rich limestone or dolostone with silica impurities. These various impurities have been mobilized and recrystallized by the intense pressure, examples of historically notable marble varieties and locations, White marble has been prized for its use in sculptures since classical times. This preference has to do with its softness, which made it easier to carve, relative isotropy and homogeneity, construction marble is a stone which is composed of calcite, dolomite or serpentine which is capable of taking a polish. More generally in construction, specifically the dimension stone trade, the marble is used for any crystalline calcitic rock useful as building stone. For example, Tennessee marble is really a dense granular fossiliferous gray to pink to maroon Ordovician limestone that geologists call the Holston Formation. Ashgabat, the city of Turkmenistan, was recorded in the 2013 Guinness Book of Records as having the worlds highest concentration of white marble buildings. According to the United States Geological Survey, U. S. domestic marble production in 2006 was 46,400 tons valued at about $18.1 million, compared to 72,300 tons valued at $18.9 million in 2005. Crushed marble production in 2006 was 11.8 million tons valued at $116 million, of which 6.5 million tons was finely ground calcium carbonate and the rest was construction aggregate. For comparison,2005 crushed marble production was 7.76 million tons valued at $58.7 million, of which 4.8 million tons was finely ground calcium carbonate, U. S. dimension marble demand is about 1.3 million tons. The DSAN World Demand for Marble Index has shown a growth of 12% annually for the 2000–2006 period, the largest dimension marble application is tile. In 1998, marble production was dominated by 4 countries that accounted for almost half of production of marble

7.
Fiberglass
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Fiberglass is a type of fiber-reinforced plastic where the reinforcement fiber is specifically glass fiber. The glass fiber may be arranged, flattened into a sheet. The plastic matrix may be a polymer matrix – most often based on thermosetting polymers such as epoxy, polyester resin. The glass fibers are made of various types of glass depending upon the fiberglass use and these glasses all contain silica or silicate, with varying amounts of oxides of calcium, magnesium, and sometimes boron. To be used in fiberglass, glass fibers have to be made very low levels of defects. Fiberglass is a lightweight material and is used for many products. Although it is not as strong and stiff as composites based on fiber, it is less brittle. Its bulk strength and weight are also better than many metals, other common names for fiberglass are glass-reinforced plastic, glass-fiber reinforced plastic or GFK. Because glass fiber itself is referred to as fiberglass, the composite is also called fiberglass reinforced plastic. This article will adopt the convention that fiberglass refers to the glass fiber reinforced composite material. A patent for this method of producing glass wool was first applied for in 1933, Owens joined with the Corning company in 1935 and the method was adapted by Owens Corning to produce its patented fibreglas in 1936. Originally, fibreglas was a wool with fibers entrapping a great deal of gas, making it useful as an insulator. A suitable resin for combining the fibreglass with a plastic to produce a material was developed in 1936 by du Pont. The first ancestor of modern polyester resins is Cyanamids resin of 1942, peroxide curing systems were used by then. With the combination of fiberglass and resin the gas content of the material was replaced by plastic and this reduced the insulation properties to values typical of the plastic, but now for the first time the composite showed great strength and promise as a structural and building material. Confusingly, many glass fiber composites continued to be called fiberglass, ray Greene of Owens Corning is credited with producing the first composite boat in 1937, but did not proceed further at the time due to the brittle nature of the plastic used. In 1939 Russia was reported to have constructed a boat of plastic materials. The first car to have a body was a 1946 prototype of the Stout Scarab

8.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world

9.
Medici Chapel
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The Sagrestia Nuova, was designed by Michelangelo. The larger Cappella dei Principi, though proposed in the 16th century, was not begun until the early 17th century, the Sagrestia Nuova was intended by Cardinal Giulio de Medici and his cousin Pope Leo X as a mausoleum or mortuary chapel for members of the Medici family. The Sagrestia Nuova was entered by an entrance in a corner of San Lorenzos right transept. By order of Cosimo I, Giorgio Vasari and Bartolomeo Ammannati finished the work by 1555, there were intended to be four Medici tombs, but those of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano were never begun. The result is that the two magnificent existing tombs are those of comparatively insignificant Medici, Lorenzo di Piero, Duke of Urbino and Giuliano di Lorenzo and their architectural components are similar, their sculptures offer contrast. A concealed corridor with drawings on the walls by Michelangelo was discovered under the New Sacristy in 1976, the octagonal Cappella dei Principi surmounted by a tall dome,59 m. high, is the distinguishing feature of San Lorenzo when seen from a distance. It is on the axis as the nave and chancel to which it provides the equivalent of an apsidal chapel. Its entrance is from the exterior, in Piazza Madonna degli Aldobrandini, the opulent Cappella dei Principi, an idea formulated by Cosimo I, was put into effect by Ferdinand I de Medici. A true expression of art, it was the result of collaboration among designers. For the execution of its astonishing revetment of marbles inlaid with colored marbles and semi-precious stone, the Grand Ducal hardstone workshop, the Opificio delle Pietre Dure was established. The art of commessi, as it was called in Florence, the result was disapproved of by 18th and 19th century visitors, but has come to be appreciated for an example of the taste of its time. Six grand sarcophagi are empty, the Medici remains are interred in the crypt below, in sixteen compartments of the dado are coats-of-arms of Tuscan cities under Medici control. In the niches that were intended to hold sculptures of Medici. The lantern at the top of the Medici Chapel is made out of marble and has an “…. unusual polyhedron mounted on the peak of the conical roof, the orb that is on top of the lantern has seventy-two facets and is about two feet in diameter. But because it is on a mausoleum, the Medici family is promoting their own personal power with the orb and cross, laurel wreath and lion heads. The lantern that holds up the orb helps to accentuate the height and size of the chapel, the lantern is a bit less than seven meters tall and, “…is equal to the height of the dome it surmounts, ”. The lantern metaphorically expresses the themes of death and resurrection, the lantern is where the soul could escape and go from “…death to the afterlife. ”. ISBN 5-98856-012-1 Peter Barenboim, Sergey Shiyan, Michelangelo, Mysteries of the Medici Chapel, SLOVO, ISBN 5-85050-825-2 Peter Barenboim, Sergey Shiyan, Michelangelo in the Medici Chapel, Genius in details

10.
Cast Courts (Victoria and Albert Museum)
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The Cast Courts of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, comprise two large halls. Unusually for a museum, the Cast Courts house a collection not of originals, here are to be found reproductions of some of the most famous sculptures in the world. Most of the copies were made in the 19th century and in many cases they have resisted the ravages of time, 20th-century pollution. In a few cases, such as the late 15th century Lübeck relief of Christ washing the Apostles feet, the original has been destroyed, carved and cast, antique and modern as he was able to obtain anywhere. Such private collections, however, remained modest and uncommon until the 18th century, by 1800 there were extensive collections in Berlin, Paris, Vienna and elsewhere. In Britain, from 1841 onwards, a collection of art from all periods, in 1852 this collection was taken over by the Museum of Manufactures when it was established at Marlborough House. By 1858 the museum had moved to its current location in South Kensington, in 1862, the collection was inflated by the acquisition of over 2,000 casts of decorative wood carving that had been used as examples for the craftsmen working on the new Westminster Palace. As with the acquisition of original sculptures, this work was primarily by Henry Cole. In contrast to national collections, the collection at the V&A was conceived as being international in scope. Casts were acquired throughout the 1860s and 70s, many of the casts were commissioned by the Museum or purchased from French or German firms. Other casts were obtained through exchange with other museums, with this agreement, the Victoria and Albert Museum came to acquire the large and diverse collection of casts that it has today. The Courts were designed by Major General Henry Scott of the Royal Engineers and were opened to the public in July 1873, the Courts are architecturally dramatic, they are large and high. The East Court has a ceiling and has casts of Italian monuments. The two Courts are divided by corridors on two levels, the mid-level corridor allows the Courts to be viewed from above, the West Court also has a vertiginously high walkway around it at a third level. The walkway is contiguous with a space that is used to store objects, mostly casts, that are not on public display and it is said that the proportions of the West Court were informed by the need to display Trajans column and the imposing Portico de la Gloria. When the cast courts first opened, they included displays of large architectural model and many casts of architectural details. When the courts first opened to the public they attracted much attention although the press reaction was mixed. In the 1920s, discussions within the museum focused on the lack of space for display and it was suggested that the cast collection be moved to The Crystal Palace where another large collection of casts was also housed

11.
Victoria and Albert Museum
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The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is the worlds largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and these include the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Royal Albert Hall. The museum is a public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media. Like other national British museums, entrance to the museum has been free since 2001, the V&A covers 12.5 acres and 145 galleries. Its collection spans 5,000 years of art, from ancient times to the present day, from the cultures of Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa. The museum owns the worlds largest collection of sculpture, with the holdings of Italian Renaissance items being the largest outside Italy. The departments of Asia include art from South Asia, China, Japan, Korea, the East Asian collections are among the best in Europe, with particular strengths in ceramics and metalwork, while the Islamic collection is amongst the largest in the Western world. Overall, it is one of the largest museums in the world, New 17th- and 18th-century European galleries were opened on 9 December 2015. These restored the original Aston Webb interiors and host the European collections 1600–1815, at this stage the collections covered both applied art and science. Several of the exhibits from the Exhibition were purchased to form the nucleus of the collection, by February 1854 discussions were underway to transfer the museum to the current site and it was renamed South Kensington Museum. In 1855 the German architect Gottfried Semper, at the request of Cole, produced a design for the museum, but it was rejected by the Board of Trade as too expensive. The site was occupied by Brompton Park House, this was extended including the first refreshment rooms opened in 1857, the official opening by Queen Victoria was on 22 June 1857. In the following year, late night openings were introduced, made possible by the use of gas lighting, in these early years the practical use of the collection was very much emphasised as opposed to that of High Art at the National Gallery and scholarship at the British Museum. George Wallis, the first Keeper of Fine Art Collection, passionately promoted the idea of art education through the museum collections. From the 1860s to the 1880s the scientific collections had been moved from the museum site to various improvised galleries to the west of Exhibition Road. In 1893 the Science Museum had effectively come into existence when a director was appointed. The laying of the stone of the Aston Webb building on 17 May 1899 was the last official public appearance by Queen Victoria. It was during this ceremony that the change of name from the South Kensington Museum to the Victoria, the exhibition which the museum organised to celebrate the centennial of the 1899 renaming, A Grand Design, first toured in North America from 1997, returning to London in 1999

12.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area

Inside the pedestal of the cast of Trajan's column. The roof window of the Cast Court can be seen through the top of the "chimney". There is also a small aperture on top of the pedestal through which the upper gallery of the Cast Court can be seen.

The expression "fig leaf" is widely used figuratively to convey the covering up of an act or an object that is …

Image: Figleafva

A statue of Mercury holding the caduceus in the Vatican, with a fig leaf placed over the genitalia. The fig leaf was placed there under the more "chaste" Popes; later, most such coverings were removed.

In this photo, Sandow portrays "The Dying Gaul", a pose taken from an ancient Roman sculpture.